Antiques Roadshow guest gobsmacked as 'piece of tat' worth huge value

Antiques Roadshow expert Susan Rumfitt left a guest shocked as she gave a huge valuation to a piece of jewellery that was branded a 'piece of tat' by her husband

An Antiques Roadshow guest received the shock of their life when what had been dismissed as 'a piece of tat' turned out to be valued at a staggering sum.

A couple featured on the popular BBC show, seeking insights into two items of jewellery. The husband had brushed off one item as mere 'tat', whereas his wife cherished it and insisted on keeping it.

The wife recounted to expert Susan her discovery of the pieces. She said: "They were from my husband's side - from his mother - and when she died, my husband said his mum had a lovely opal bracelet that I might like. So we dug it out and that was that.

"In this big box was loads of stuff and we got to the bottom and found that. My husband said, 'you don't want that - it's a load of tat'. It's just a piece of glass. So I was like, 'well I like it.'"

Her spouse added: "We'd like to know what it is! It's very big for a precious stone, I would have thought."

Antiques expert Susan enlightened them, appreciating the beauty and worth of the bangle. She said: "Let's start with the bangle first. We know it's opal like you said, but it's really beautiful. As we can see, there are these wonderful opals, all graduating in size, and have diamonds in between, which really help to bring out the beautiful colours."

"The greens, the blues, flashes of oranges we see around the stones. It really is totally magnificent and the added bonus with any piece of jewellery is having the original box which we have here."

She added: "If we open the box up, we can see the piece was bought at Wartski's in Llandudno. It's now based in London but this is where they were established. They've gone on to be one of the most important jewellers in the world, known for selling Faberge but we can calm things a bit because this isn't Faberge, but it really is a super example of 1880s jewellery."

Delving further into the necklace's history, she remarked: "Then we come on to the piece of tat that you would call it. This comes from the Edwardian period and has diamonds which are set at the top here. They are set in platinum to the front. You need strength to support this jewel here. It's actually aquamarine. The colour's even all the way through the stone as well."

When it came time to discuss value, Susan revealed: "All in all, it's moved a long way from tat! The aquamarine pendant, if it went up to auction, would be around three to £5000. The opal bangle, of course, is a magnificent piece and if that came up to auction, we would be looking at an estimate of eight to £10,000," eliciting a surprised response from the man: "I wasn't expecting that! I think we better have another look in that jewellery box."

*Antiques Roadshow airs on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.